Now, we’re excited to offer HTC fans and admirers alike a new experience on what we think is the best hardware available today. Starting June 26, Google will offer a special edition of the HTC One with a “Nexus user experience” through the Google Play store.

This special edition device, priced at $599, will be available in the United States (initially) and supported on GSM networks. Out of the box, this special edition HTC One will run Android 4.2.2 with subsequent software updates provided by Google.

because 99% of all cell phones and smartphones are not sold at retail. They’re sold as part of a contract and only appear to cost a hundred or so not 600 … This is for the must-have guys and the tech geeks like some of us here.

I’ll buy a “true” Nexus if I want a stock Android. Because Nexus is made for stock Android but One is made for “Sense Android”(Just like GS4 is made for “TouchWiz Android”).
But I love Sense Android more than stock Android.

What you’ll find is that most consumers wouldn’t know stock Android if they were looking at it. What consumers what is a great phone and the particular OS, even the version of it, simply doesn’t matter to them. What matters is how well the phone works. This edition of the HTC One is for a small segment of customers who want the best hardware on the market with Google’s stock Android experience. It’s a niche market, but an important one, and HTC is happy to address it with this release. You’re welcome to say you don’t want Sense on your phone, but presuming to speak for the rest of the market is a bit…cheeky.

This version of the HTC One isn’t compatible with Sprint, you’re right. If Google asks us to make one that is, we will of course. Let them know via their Twitter account: https://twitter.com/GooglePlay

HTC still hasn’t managed to supply the stores with enough One units so on June 26 there will probably be like 5 phones for sale in Google Play store. And 3 of them crappy built, and another 2 with dead pixels.

Will the international version be hardware compatible with the nexus edition One? I guess what i’m asking is : will it be possible to manually flash with the nexus ROM on the international unlocked HTC One?

any existing owner would like to have the option to flash this update, not just the dev edition owners. its another opportunity for HTC to embrace this type of thing (as it has often done before) rather than watch it happen ‘unofficially’ anyway

As a long time HTC customer, I am disappointed that HTC didn’t offer this version at launch with the standard Sense OS options, so loyal and early adoption customers had all the options to consider. I already bought the HTC One with Sense. Can I trade it in to HTC for a Google Edition??

But most of the write-ups on this Google edition are predicting a FAIL and further indicated this a flawed business strategy for both HTC (and Samsung) to offer their flagship devices without the software that differentiates them from the commoditized hardware offerings in the marketplace. There’s also no guarantee that these devices will get updates as rapidly as a true “Nexus” because of carrier agreements.

It is confusing as a customer as well. For techies, they’re familiar with the Nexus line. But for the average consumer, its confusing to have the same device with different OS. Not to mention the contradictions out there that said that neither the HTC One Google Edition or the Samsung S4 with Pure Google were going to be sold on the Play Store as a way to mitigate any confusion on what is a Nexus and what is not. Now, we’re seeing that these devices WILL be sold through the Play Store?? Aren’t these devices just AOSP and not a true Nexus? If not, then what’s the difference???

I feel like this offering was simply a knee-jerk reaction to Samsung’s announcement at Google I/O. HTC seems to be all over the place in its product strategy in the past which cost it dearly. I thought the “One” was the plan to bring the house back to order yet HTC seems to be going back to its old ways. Maybe the loss of all those HTC executives lately has left the company with a lack of leadership and steadfastness.

I understand how you feel chris… but back in to business, if you’re the president of the company you would like to make your product stand out. Thats why sense, touchwizn and alike exist. It makes the phone different from the competition. I too already have the developer edition but still would like to get a taste of vanilla. Hoping that htc will release a flash for it.

There are lots of ways to make your product stand out without mangling the OS. Release your enhancements as apps, include different hardware options or a phone optimized for certain use cases, such as a waterproof phone, several day battery, ex. RAZR MAXX, tablet integration, ex. the Atrix, Infrared, ex. the S4, quality customer support, i.e. AppleCare, or something that nobody has done yet.

Consumers want a phone with good battery life, easy to use, runs all their apps and looks good. Developers want phones to be updated so they can use the new features of Android without sacrificing some of their customer base. I want a phone that has both and doesn’t feel like an iPhone knockoff. NOBODY wants sense, touchwiz, etc as they stand; it just hurts the entire ecosystem. Customers don’t mind value added features, as long as they actually add value and don’t cause them to have to wait 2 years for updates. If they do, there’s no value added.

i think HTC should let customers pick ROM by flashing the phone with the help of HTC pc software of course(the thing you update your phone and such). Same price but also the early adopters will be happy since some might feel that they made a bad decision of buying it instead of waiting.

Also right now it will void your warranty. I think they should make it possible through the PC software to allow the users to pick if they want to switch between sense or google experience. It will be easier for the normal users that dont want to root and such but also keep the warranty.

So there’s no support for HSPA on AWS? That’s a bummer for T-Mobile USA customers living in areas that haven’t had their spectrum refarmed (from HSPA on AWS to HSPA on 1900, LTE on AWS.) Looks good otherwise, though.

I really Enjoy my HTC One, but if i can get the OTA updates from Google directly and not wait for AT&T/HTC to release them that would be amazing to have the latest version of android on my phone. I really hope I can flash a stock RUU rom using HTC sofware without having to root. Worse case I don’t mind rooting but would love to be able to obtain OTA from Google. The only thing from HTC i will miss and will want to instal is the pictures APP for the ZOE software and maybe the camera app.. Other then that I don’t care about anything else.. Oh and i do Enjoy Blink feed and would love to get that setup too, but not the least of my worries.

Yea I went Nexus then HTC and then had to go back Nexus because of the promises of updates and they never come. HTC needs to work on the customers and not the corporations. That’s why Apple is capable of commanding their own moves.

Trust me people, HTC with Sense is one of the most elevated Android experience. I installed Stock JB 4.2 Launcher by Google on HTC ONE, was more of Nexus experience than a “ONE” experience. Personally the only benefit to my, if I buy Google edition that is, since I already have HTC ONE with Sense would be prompt updates by Google, thats it, nothing else!

ONE With Sense = ♥
ONE With Stock Android = Okay, even Nexus people have it, whats new?

I agree with you 100%. The only reason I would want the Nexus experience is to get the updates quickly i love he sense features.. That is why even if i went with a Nexus vanilla android experience I would still install some Sense apps that i currently enjoy such as Picture app for ZOE’s, camera app, Blink feed etc…

I think this is a big miss if they don’t include AWS HSPA+ (T-mobile).. Yes, it supports T-mobiles LTE, but thats only JUST rolling out.. Which means most T-mobile customers would only see Edge service on such a great device. Very disappointing.. T-Moible’s 1900 Re-farming is moving, but you can’t count on it.

Look, I absolutely love my HTC on T-Mobile but there is a serious glaring omission here – no HSPA+ on AWS. We, T-Mobile users, will be seriously handicapped without it! I’m in a network refarmed area and also have LTE but this is totally unacceptable and not thought out. I understand the decision with the Developer Edition because it is 64GB and AT&T has an exclusive on it but this… This is just a bad move, HTC. Unfortunately, many people will choose the Galaxy S4 “Google Edition” because of the decision you’ve made.

T-Mo 1900 is pretty good here in Chicago but it sucked everywhere else I went in the Midwest so in the end I caved and just added a line to my wife’s AT&T account (a holdover from the iPhone exclusivity and we get a good corporate discount, not under contract so I can quit any time). The One just rocks on AT&T’s LTE network and it seems to be everywhere I go, and even in rural Michigan I was getting HSPA so their network has certainly improved over the last couple of years. I’m using my T-Mo account with my Nexus 4 and Sony Xperia ZL. I really like T-Mobile as a company but if LTE doesn’t show up in force soon I may consider dropping them when my contract expires in October.

Their 1900 MHz spectrum here in Houston isn’t terrible but it could certainly be better. Hell, if you drive around you’ll frequently see LTE drop to “4G” and then will come back again in another area just a couple miles away. Needless to say, I’m not totally sold on the whole refarm or their LTE network (which they claim is completed here) so having more frequencies just makes sense. The ONLY reason I stick with T-Mobile is because of their pricing and the fact that I rarely travel outside of large cities.

Still don’t want it (lack of SD and no removable battery is a deal killer), but this is definitely a move int eh right direction. I hated Sense with a passion. HTC should just make good hardware and stop trying to re-invent the wheel on software.

I’m not worried about storage and battery. For me 64GB on at&t is more then enough even 32GB is great oppose to what Samsung offers 16GB or 32GB.. As for battery i’m not worried the battery life is great and I can always purchase a Mophie and put it in my travel bag in the case I need extra juice. I don’t like bulk and will not use the Mophie but in the case battery gets low I can pop it on

In a similar way, you can get a tiny cable and pop in a regular flash drive. Not exactly the same as charging up a battery, I get that, but it does mean I’m less worried about storage. (Do an Internet search for USB OTG)

While I do find this interesting especially from the point of what it may mean for future devices, I gotta say I’ve had my One Developer Edition for over a month now and there is no way I’d put stock Android 4.2.2 on it. I still have my Nexus 4 that I was using prior to getting the One and Google *still* hasn’t fixed the Bluetooth stack in 4.2.2, which is a total mess, and the camera app is marginal at best.

The One’s 4.1.2 Bluetooth works perfectly (i.e. I can pair my Pebble watch and a Bluetooth headset at the same time with no issues), the Sense camera software is awesome (no way I’m giving up Zoes and highlight videos!), and there are a few other Sense apps I prefer (Calendar, for example).

As for updates, my DE One has already received one update from HTC (and I’m hoping there’s one in the works to fix that annoying bug where accessibility breaks the lock screen).

I’m curious to see how the Nexus Experience works out on the One, but unless there’s an APK pack you can install that lets stock Android take advantage of all the hardware goodies in the One I can’t really see myself switching off Sense (I always have my Nexus 4 if I want stock).

If it comes with Beats Audio (which it does), I’m hoping HTC will keep the functionality in the IR remote app, and also tweak the stock camera software a bit. I think those are most people’s main concerns…

Yeah, good point about the IR, I keep forgetting its there, but I do use the TV app sometimes ’cause it’s handy and actually works pretty well, considering I use an A/V receiver and a DirecTV DVR. My Sony ZL has IR too, but its remote app is “dumb”, I have to switch devices to change the volume when watching TV, where as the HTC app understands I’m using the A/V receiver for TV volume.

Since the sim unlocked version and google edition differ in software, I think it would be helpful if we could have two RUUs — one stock android and the other with sense. If someone wants to try stock version of android, they could flash the ROM without rooting. Not everyone roots their phone while it is still in warranty. Also, people outside the US can purchase a sim unlocked version and switch to AOSP version which may improve sales further. I mean it would be nice if we had some choice….

I was burned by HTC’s update process–actually lack of updates. That’s why I have switched to a Nexus device.

I would prefer the latest OS rather than the sluggish whiz-bang skin. HTC (HW Manufacturers) should have apps for Sense (or other skin) that users can install or remove based on personal preference. They could even have apps that are specific to HW, but they need to make sure that I can uninstall any crApp that I don’t want. I am intrigued by the “Google experience” HTC One, but I will wait another cycle before I can trust HTC again. (Former owner of the HTC Evo 4G, Evo 3D, Evo Design.)

just bought new HTC One with Sense. Should I ask for a refund (14 days grace period) so I can replace with HTC One with Android 4.2.2 when it arrives. Don’t want to be stuck with Sense & 4.1 as already feel cheated moving from my Nexus 4. The One is a thing of beauty though but regret losing 4.2.2

Well they were pretty fast to deny a HTC One Google Edition would happen! If enough people pressure them into it like this..then anything is possible! Thumbs up HTC for listening to your customers!!!! 26 sleeps!!!!

That’s always an option. It’s not like it will be impossible to just put this version on the pre-existing ‘One’, but to have HTC actually supply it officially would be a major support for the community.

You should have done that 3 months ago. I hope you can rescue the company with this step forward. Sell the One with pure Android in Germany and I’ll buy my first smartphone outside the iPad and iPod world.

Will the HTC One Nexus edition be offered on carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile on a contract basis?? Basically an offer similar to the normal HTC One with Sense 5.0 that’s available for either $199 or $299 if I were to take up a 2-year contract.

Is the photo supposed to be the “Nexus Edition?” the virtual buttons are NOT stock Android…”HTC” instead of home, home instead of recent apps, back button design is different.
That is fine if this was a quickie photoshop for a press release, but it is *not* stock/vanilla/nexus Android if you tweaked the virtual buttons even slightly
I have a Galaxy Nexus and a Nexus 7 in front of me to compare…

The original price was an introductory offer for the unlocked version of the new HTC One. The
current price of $599.99 is the standard price and is very competitive in the
market. It’s still a great value for the award-winning smartphone!

do carriers charge way less per month when you use an unlocked phone off contract? Its hard to find such info on their websites because they always funnel you to buy into a contract. Best US carrier option for this phone? gotta justify the high upfront cost vs a contract handset

to be totally honest on this post, this is quiet a sad idea for the early adopter of the HTC One. As myself and many others who do enjoy sense but fear now that since the nexus edition is out, the HTC DEV team will not roll out updates to the sense and will soon lose interest. Please HTC honour your faithfull Buyers by quick UPDATES!!!

The whole thing is that HTC abandons users quite quickly. I had a couple of updates on my phone and after the last update the phone is extremely slow. I’ve replaced some Sense stuff with alternatives to make phone usable. I think I’m not the only one frustrated by that. So I think people like me will never ever consider HTC with Sense disregarding how good a new HTC phone can be. I think they realised that they failed the old users. This is probably a new last chance to sell at least their hardware to those users.

That’s really awesome. I’ve been waiting for this. For about a year I’m only interested in AOSP phones – that’s mainly because I bought the Galaxy S3 I9300 with Exynos processor which HAS COMPLETELY NO SUPPORT. Samsung really s**cks! HTC one already has good builds of cyanogenmod. Thank you HTC for making pure Android experience model!

That’s not a bad idea, except that most people won’t buy at such high prices and that would really defeat HTC’s intention of pushing Sense forward, and won’t justify the money and resources put into developing it.

There’s also a technical problem with that idea, and this is what many people don’t understand. HTC Sense, Touchwiz, and other manufacturer overlays are more than just a launcher. They’re very tightly woven into the Android framework. Launcher is just a normal app which can be downloaded and installed to the device, but the notification/status bar is part of the system framework (SystemUI), which can’t be changed without root access and even then it has many dependencies on the Sense framework. It’s not the same as theming, because Sense is not a theme. It is a deeply customised layer on top of the base Android system. So the notification/status bar cannot be packaged with the launcher and also cannot be distributed as an independent app.

Why is there no 1700 MHz band? That was a big mistake for both the unlocked and developer’s editions. If it only works on AT&T, then there’s no point having an unlocked phone. I assure you, any person who would purchase a developer’s edition or Nexus experience One would have sufficient common sense not to let AT&T steal their money.

The device supports T-Mobile 1900Mhz HSPA and LTE (band 4). T-Mobile has already refarmed several major markets to 1900MHz in an ongoing rollout. Their 1700MHz spectrum is being converted for LTE with coverage for over 100M users estimated by mid-year and 200M by year end.

The city list came from t-mo. It includes all of the top 10 US cities by population, as well as other relevant cities for smartphone early adopters like Boston, Seattle, DC, and San Francisco.

The 1700 frequency never reached ALL customers to begin with, so simply refarming won’t cause the 1900 to reach all customers. There is good reason to believe based on current trends in their behavior that they will eventually repurpose all of their existing AWS space for LTE, which basically requires them to make HSPA+ available via 1900, but no-one is going to make you a guarantee.

If you already live in one of the cities that’s on that list, This phone is no problem. Many of them will be the first to get LTE, too. If you live in a less populated area of the country, T-mo was never really for you to begin with, and Verizon/AT&T will have better coverage for you.

I’ve been a fan of HTC hardware since I bought the HTC Touch Pro back in 2008. SenseUI is alright, but since HTC failed to update the Desire HD after months of promising it would get ICS, I’ve been hanging out for a move to Nexus UX for HTC’s great hardware… Great work HTC!

I just got THE ONE, its like effing Neo its so good, and I like Sense. That said, I nearly got the ageing Nexus 4 because its updates, Android, UI are so incredible. They have to give us the option. If only I had waited till the 26th.

With all the high profile people leaving HTC, is it safe to assume that you guys are looking for people with some common sense? You guys release some great hardware and then shoot yourselves in the foot with the software and by releasing watered down devices.

I wouldn’t mind being an employee for the common sense department, if you’re hiring.

I’m glad HTC is offering options. I love my new HTC One and wouldn’t dream of giving up BlinkFeed and other features, but it’s nice to know that if my feelings ever change in the future, I can go the Android route. Thanks, HTC!

Awesome phone now in two great flavours! I’m happy with my Sense 5 version but i sure would like to play around with the Nexus ONE. Would be nice to have a dual boot option, nothing like having your cake and eating it too.

Its great that there are now two unadulterated, i.e. no crummy AT&T overlay, versions of HTC One, the pure HTC Sense and the pure Andrroid but… What sort of manufacturing process and what sort of distribution strategy allows you to make the best android phone in the world and then undermine yourselves by not being able to supply the BLACK version from either HTC or Google Play???!!!

The blogosphere erupted yesterday claiming that the sky is falling and that updates won’t come through Google. One writer dismissed the quote here because this is just a blog. The irony of that was hilarious. Will HTC please set the record straight?